


Our Little Horror Story's Just Begun...

by SombraMalamutt



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gamer AU - Freeform, Gen, Identity Reveal, Sister Location Spoilers, TW: death threats, TW: mild racism, TW: mild racist language, Youtuber AU, also all those TWs are really just for the first chapter, and I tried not to make 'em too bad, didn't aim for that to happen but oh well gonna roll with the punches, super vague Youtuber AU, well slight Youtuber AU anyways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SombraMalamutt/pseuds/SombraMalamutt
Summary: A Gamer AU/FNAF AU/Vague YouTuber AU
Max is a relatively new YouTuber with a moderately sized following.  He decides to play the latest game in the FNAF and makes what he thinks is a ludicrous, offhanded comment which erupts into a ton of unnecessary hatred being thrown his way and as usual, Papillion is there to offer power to an ailing soul...for his usual price, of course.
Will Ladybug and Chat Noir be able to protect all the students on the school grounds while fighting off hoards of murderous animatronics?  
And will they be able to figure out which one is the real akuma in order to save their friend?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I wanted to explain the racism/racist language tag.
> 
> I tried to keep it minimal and fairly mild, but I wanted to leave the tags just in case. Heck, initially I wrote some of it to be a little worse but...I couldn't leave it like that. I was personally uncomfortable with it (since I'm black and I'm generally uncomfortable with most racial slurs/language). It's one of those things I know people would probably want to be warned about sometimes. I just wanted to try to write what a YouTube comment section generally looks like on videos by POC that either people hate or are controversial in some way.
> 
> I'm working on the assumption that Max is using face cam for his let's plays so that's why they know what he looks like.
> 
> This is the only chapter that'll have language like that. Also I might update the archive warning later on depending on how much violence I end up writing in this. I'm not sure just yet as I've just started writing the second chapter. ^^; I'm trying to force myself to not do much editing and just write and see how much I can get done. I don't have anyone to run stories by anyways so I generally spend hours reading and re-reading and re-re-reading everything and...I just wanna write a spooky FNAF crossover thing for Halloween. 
> 
> This is what I get for watching all of the Sister Location playthroughs while being completely obsessed with ML. :P
> 
> Also, title is from the FNAF fan song [Our Little Horror Story by Aviators](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZb3qfEeXN4).

“And just like that, a new king arises!”

It was meant to be a simple throw away line. Nothing serious. Nearly four hours after the game’s release and Max had already beaten Sister Location, finding both endings and beating the surprisingly eerie death mini game. Well maybe eerie wasn’t the right word. For the most part it’s cutesy and eight-bit…until the end…which Max most certainly did not flinch at. He certainly didn’t flinch hard enough that he fell out his chair. Definitely not. And he most definitely did not decide that him ungracefully falling out of his desk chair would be the highlight of the entire video.

Over the next couple hours, he’d edited down the footage and split it up into four chunks and uploaded the videos over the next two days, making sure to space them out so he didn’t overwhelm his followers with updates.

The release of Sister Location was perfectly timed for Halloween and what a way to kick off a month of horror games than with one of the most anticipated indie games of the year. He hadn’t expected anything to come of it. It wasn’t like he had a massive following on YouTube. Max had certainly made a bit of a name for himself and amassed a following of slightly under seventy five hundred people. Not a large number compared to some of the other let’s play channels out there, but he was just starting out so that was to be expected. Besides, he’d just started the channel for fun. He never even expected to gain a hundred followers let alone thousands.

He had been too busy with homework to check up on his videos, but once he’d finished his assignments, he logged into YouTube to respond to a few comments. The usual. What he didn’t expect was to find an inbox full of unread notifications. A few new subscribers which wasn’t surprising, but mostly all the notifications were comments. An endless stream of comments all on the last video in the series. 

That…was concerning.

Hesitantly, he opened up the video and scrolled down. First thing he noted was the dislike bar. Not that he cared much if people disliked his content. People have certainly hit that thumbs down button before. But this…? The dislikes overwhelmed the likes by the hundreds if not thousands. Which was the next odd thing because it was rare for his videos to get anything over five or six thousand hits, but this one was well into the sextuple digits.

Now there’s generally only one rule for keeping your sanity on the internet: Never read the comments.

Max…disregarded this entirely.

Though in all fairness, it wasn’t like he dealt with a lot of comments. His fanbase was relatively small and most who subscribed didn’t do much aside from hitting the like or dislike buttons.

He scrolled further past the like/dislike bar to cautiously read the first comment up.

_like fuckin hell ur king u shit ___

Oooookay…well it was rude, but not really the worst anyone could do. Honestly, he’d seen a couple similar comments on his older videos. Rude comments like that are pretty much par for the course on YouTube. Max just shrugged and scrolled a little further.

_So what? U play wut 1 FNAF game and ur ‘king’ now? Idiot._

Also rude, but such a weak insult. Had the person actually checked Max’s channel, they’d see that he’d played every game in the franchise, read and reviewed the book, and even played multiple fan games. Something he was happy to see his followers and friends pointing out.

He scrolled a little further and it was at this point he began regretting his decision. The moment his eyes hit the next one his heart sunk to the pit of his stomach.

_look it this harambe ass mofo actin like hot shit! lolololololololol!!!!_

Not that he understood the “Harambe” incident as it was a strictly American issue, but it’s not like he didn’t catch the gist of it. Not that it was the point in this case. The implications behind the words were clear enough.

_Stop pretending you’re the ‘king’ of anything and do us all a favor and go kill yourself._

Tears welled in the corners of his eyes.

_Die…_

_Dirty ape…_

_Fuck you…_

_Kill yourself…_

He slammed his laptop shut with such force he thought it might break. A breather…that’s what he needed. Maybe…maybe tonight wasn’t the best time to try and engage with his fans. He wasn’t even sure what it was he did wrong. That offhanded comment about being the new ‘king’ of Five Nights at Freddy’s? Could such a thing really elicit such a venomous response? It’s not like the title meant anything. Even the so called ‘actual king’, Markiplier, made light of it…because it was completely silly. Ludicrous. An absolutely meaningless label.

Granted, he was the one who appointed himself king, but that was neither here nor there.

Max didn’t think for a second that Mark would stoop so low as to send his followers to attack him so he held no ill will towards him. Just…why though?

With a sigh, he decided to put it out of his mind for the rest of the night. Perhaps things would be better in the morning.

* * * *

Thing were most definitely not better in the morning.

Walking up the steps of the school, he was greeted by the hushed murmurings of Nino’s conversation with Adrien. Of course his friends and classmates would be talking about it. He weakly hoped they wouldn’t. That was maybe asking a bit much of the universe though.

“Dude, I feel so bad for Max. You see what went down on his channel last night?”

“No. I was meaning to catch up on his videos later today. What happened?”

“Last part of his FNAF Sister Location playthrough went up and…dude just look.”

Max watched Nino hand his phone over to Adrien. He kept his distance, not wanting to engage with either of them, but he couldn’t help but notice Adrien’s eyes flash with shock for a split second before anger burned within them. To be honest, he wasn’t even aware Adrien was capable of expressing such an emotion. Well…logically as a human being he was. He’s just never seen anger so plainly written on Adrien’s face before. Discomfort he’s seen especially around Chloé and he remembered the devastatingly heart wrenching look of sadness he displayed whenever his father backed out of spending time with him. Sheer anger bordering on rage though…Max had to admit the look was enough that he prayed he was never on the receiving end of it.

“What?!” Adrien hissed.

“Yeah like the comments have been coming in nonstop,” Nino sighed. 

“But that’s not just regular hate! That’s…that’s…”

“I know. Believe me, man, I know. Just…” Nino paused mid-sentence catching what he thought was a glimpse of Max’s hair out the corner of his eye. He was right of course. Their eyes met for a split second before Max averted his gaze and quickly progressed towards the school’s entrance, ignoring Nino and Adrien’s calls. They’re friends. He might not be particularly close with either of them, but he knows they’re both good people and he’s grateful to them for caring. He just…doesn’t want to talk about it. Not yet at least.

Other classmates, friends, and students call out for him, trying to catch his attention, but he forced himself to tune them out. He couldn’t deal with questions right now. Couldn’t deal with talking about it. Didn’t want to hear updates. He just wanted the whole thing to go away…to disappear like the memories of an awful dream as you wake.

Thank god it was almost time for class to start. It’ll give him something else to focus on before everyone inevitably starts pestering him about YouTube drama.

_Focus on classwork, pay attention to the lesson, take notes. Focus on classwork, pay attention to the lesson, take notes…_

Of course this strategy only works so long as classes are in session. The moment the classes ended though was fair game and unfortunately lunch break came sooner than he expected. Really? Was half the day over already?

“Max? Are you alright?”

He looked up to meet Marinette’s blue eyes. She always did care a little too deeply for everyone, even if she wasn’t particularly close to them. It was an admirable quality and why the class nearly unanimously voted her to be president. A part of him was grateful for her asking. A stronger part though still needed time to process everything. Alone.

“I’m fine,” he lied, “Don’t worry about it. Thank you for asking though.”

“If there’s anything we can do…”

“No.” Max didn’t mean to cut her off nor did he mean to sound so curt. Not that he could bring himself to care. “I can handle it.”

“For real though,” Kim cut in, “I don’t see why any of ‘em cared that you claimed a fake title. You beat the game fair and square, you beat Mark to the punch and probably you were the first to complete the entire game. As far as we know anyways. Fuckin’ racist pricks.”

“Language!” Rose’s cheery voice chided, “But yeah! You should totally be proud! Don’t listen to all those awful people!”

“Besides,” Adrien said, his voice sounding as steady as ever (Max still noticed the lingering hints of anger hidden behind his eyes though), “You’re still the king for us, right?”

Nearly everyone in the room chimed in with their agreement. Okay so maybe even if he didn’t want to talk about it, it was nice to hear everyone giving him their support. He needed that more than he realized. 

The moment was perfect until a scoff sounded throughout the room.

“Puh-lease,” Chloé rolled her eyes, “You’re all making such a big deal over a stupid video game.”

“That’s not the point, Chlo,” Adrien growled. For a moment, Chloé seemed just the tiniest bit shaken up by Adrien’s reaction. Then again, she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of any of his negative emotions. It was only for a moment though. 

“Yeah, yeah I got it. Racist comments. Death threats. Whatever. It’s still a big deal to make over some dumb game. And what…” This time she turned to face Max. “You’re supposed to be the new king at it or something? You? Wasn’t it just a month or two ago that you lost against Adrikins at that gaming competition? Hell, you lost against Marinette and she just joined in at the last second. And if you’re being attacked for calling yourself the new king of whatever game it is, doesn’t that mean that label belonged to someone else first? Someone who was probably way more deserving of it than some kid who just got lucky this time around…”

“Chloé!” Marinette spat.

“I’m just calling it like I see it,” Chloé shrugged, “C’mon Sabrina. I’ve got more important things to do than talk about a ridiculous game.”

Realistically Chloé was wrong. He knew she was, but…she had a point. At least a tiny one. He wasn’t the best at games. No matter how hard he practiced for that Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament, he didn’t make the cut. Adrien and Marinette were the better choices if their school wanted to stand any chance in winning, it was for the best that they were the two representatives. It pained him to not be able to participate especially when he was so close, but he had to concede that Marinette was a much stronger player. She deserved it way more and he was content to cheer her on from the sidelines. That’s what friends are for after all. She would’ve done the same for him.

Except…this was different. He’d proven without a shadow of a doubt how capable he was at the game, and while it may be difficult to prove he was the first to complete the it, he’d certainly done so before any of the top YouTubers and what did he get for that? Threads upon threads of racist rhetoric, death threats, and calls to suicide over a simple, little throwaway line.

“Hey,” Adrien spoke, breaking the silence that fell over them, “Don’t…don’t take anything Chloé says to heart. I don’t know what’s up with her, but she’s wrong…”

“I know.” Max’s voice came out harsher than he intended it. “I get it. I…I just need to be alone for a little while.”

He didn’t bother gathering his belongings. They’d be waiting for him beside his desk once he got back anyways. He just took off. To where, he had no clue. He just needed to leave.

“Who does she think she is?” Max muttered to no one in particular, “She has the audacity to claim I’m not worthy when she doesn’t know the first thing about these games…”

When he looked up he found himself in an isolated corner of the library away from the tables full of students quietly studying or silently giggling over juicy gossip. Exhausted, he dropped to the floor, brought his knees up to his chest, and buried his head in them. 

He was trying so hard to just ignore what was going on. Online drama deserved to remain online but everyone, though they meant well, seemed hellbent on bringing it to the “real world”. Why couldn’t they just leave well enough alone? They knew he didn’t want to talk about it, so why did they keep insisting? And seriously why does Chloé always have to inject herself into conversations she knows nothing about?! 

“I didn’t deserve that….I completed the game fairly. I discovered the hidden easter eggs. I discovered the hidden ending. It’s...just a game. I…I didn’t deserve any of this…”

_You’re right…you didn’t deserve it…To be faced with such hatred and negativity at a young age…you poor child…_

There was a soft fluttering noise and Max barely had time to register the sight of black and purple wings gliding into his peripheral. His eyes widened in shock as the creature landed on the rim of his glasses and melded into the metal.

“Gamer,” a rich, deep voice whispered in the recesses of his mind, “My name is Papillion. I can grant you the power to prove without a shadow of a doubt that you are indeed the best, but you must obtain a few little items for me. Can you do that?”

Max’s lips quirked upward into a dangerous grin. Bubbling, black energy pooled around his feet, slowly crawling up his body.

He needed to do this. He needed to prove that he was just as good as any other person out there. He knew the game inside and out and if people didn’t want to believe him, then fine. He’ll just have to show them.

“It would be my pleasure.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My descriptions and summaries of all the FNAF games as a person who is too chicken to play them but not chicken enough to watch other people play and theorize about them are probably less than satisfactory. :P

The rest of the class sat and stood in hushed silence as they watched Max leave the room. Just when they thought they had sufficiently cheered him up, Chloé had to come in and ruin it. As per tradition. Marinette stood to chase after Max, but Alya caught her wrist before she could get away.

 

“But…” Marinette began.

 

“Give him some space,” Alya explained, “I think he needs it.”

 

Marinette opened her mouth to protest, but decided against it and fell back into her seat. “Still wish there was something we could do…”

 

“And I’m sure there will be in time,” Alya interjected, “But Max is understandably pretty upset. I’m sure he realizes we all care about him, but the whole situation’s still pretty fresh.”

 

“Ugh,” Adrien groaned while ruffling his perfectly styled hair in frustration, “I’m sorry about Chloé guys. I know all that stuff she said probably made him feel worse.”

 

“Dude, don’t apologize for Chloé. We all know how she can be,” Nino sighed.

 

“Right,” Alya agreed, “You literally should not have to apologize on that girl’s behalf.”

 

“I know…I know, but still…”

 

As his voice trailed off, the lights in the building flickered and buzzed until they fizzled out completely, shrouding everyone in complete darkness. Which was surprising as it was still fairly early in the morning and the sun was bright and unobscured by clouds. Or…it should have been. 

 

“What the…?”

 

The area surrounding the school was fenced in by some sort of barrier that left the grounds dark. It wasn’t pitch black by any stretch of the imagination however. They could make out the shadows of passing cars and pedestrians. A few curious ones stopped the moment the barrier fell over the school grounds to reach out and touch it only to find that it would shock them upon contact. Black tendrils of energy sparked, licking their skin and leaving behind light rashes and bruises.

 

Inside the building. an eerie silence permeated that was only broken by the low buzz of the broken, flickering lights outside the classroom door. Behind the buzz sounded a low tinkling reminiscent of a music box but…the notes fell flat. Each one slow and drawn out and the melody haunting, operatic, and…familiar.

 

Mechanical whirring and lumbering steps accompanied the music. Both sounds grew louder as the unknown thing approaching drew near.

 

_Thump…Thump…Thump…_

 

The steps halted directly in front of the door leaving only the chilling tune of the off-key music box. Everyone froze in place, not knowing what to do, but it was a safe assumption that staying still and keeping silent was the best option. Most couldn’t see much from their vantage point, especially since the window in the door was so small. They could just make out a massive, dark shape blocking their only exit. Small pinpoints of light flashed in time to the music, illuminated its face. Its decidedly ursine face. Glowing blue eyes peered through the small window, gears humming as they shifted side to side. Satisfied that there seemed to be no one (or at least no movement) in the room, the footsteps resumed and the eerie music faded as the mechanical creature moved further down the hall.

 

There was a collective sigh of relief once the sound of broken music and footsteps disappeared.

 

“Fuck!” Nino hissed under his breath, “Was that…? How did…? How?!” 

 

Marinette sucked in a breath and raised her hands to her mouth in shock. 

 

“Max!” she whispered, “He must’ve gotten akumatized!”

 

“If that’s the case, we have a huge problem,” Nathanael stated, “Well…a lot of huge problems actually.”

 

“Being?”

 

“Think about it,” he started, “First of all, if it’s an akuma we’re dealing with, he’s made a barrier no one can penetrate. So Ladybug and Chat Noir can’t get in. Assuming the barrier repels other types of magic anyways. Even if they can get in, we’re still left to fend for ourselves until they get here. And what’re we supposed to do? We all know how the games go right?”

 

Rose was the only one who shook her head. She’d tried to watch Max play the first Five Nights at Freddy’s game the prior year, but the design of the animatronics and their jump scares were too much for the poor girl. 

 

“Those games looked way too scary for me!” she exclaimed, remaining careful to keep her voice low, “so…so I just never watched Max play them. I know there’s the creepy animal robots and they jump out and scream at you and they look all broken and that’s about it.”

 

“That’s the basics of it,” Adrien whispered, his eyes intensely watching the hallway, “For the first two games in the series, you’re playing as different security guards watching over different versions of this pizzeria that’s overrun with haunted animatronic. In the third, it’s a haunted house made based on the animatronics and the backstory from the first two games. The fourth game and Sister Location are sorta the odd ones out but for the most part, game play wise it’s pretty straightforward. You just have to survive your work shift until six AM. Or PM in the case of Sister Location. Of course the games get progressively harder as you go along.

 

“Now if the akuma is working with the game’s lore, we might have some problems. Because one of the first things we learn about the animatronics in the first game is that if they catch you, they’ll think you’re an endoskeleton without a suit so they’ll try to stuff you inside one. Which is a problem because the suits have all these mechanical parts in them. In later games, the other animatronics just don’t like adults as they bore witness to one killing a bunch of the children that went to the pizzeria. The animatronics just flat out killed…”

 

“Oh…” Though she spoke the word softly, Rose’s eyes widened and body trembled in fear at the realization. 

 

“So what?” Alya whisper-yelled, “we’re supposed to sit here and fuckin’ wait?! We’re gonna die if we do that!”

 

“I didn’t say that,” Adrien’s voice remained steady. “But the alternative isn’t the greatest. Some of us will have to stay behind and hide. Some of us will have to go out there…”

 

“I’m going!”

 

Everyone turned to the source of the voice with wide eyed stares. Marinette stood poised and defiant and ready to fight if need be. Without waiting for approval, she turned and started to make her way to the door. Alya reached out and grabbed her wrist, gripping it a little too tightly.

 

“Girl, are you insane?! You can’t go out there!”

 

Marinette wanted to argue, thinking Alya thought she was too weak or clumsy to handle herself. Not that Alya would’ve been wrong about the clumsiness. That was a legitimate worry with Marinette. Even so, she opened her mouth, ready to protest that she could indeed handle it when she felt her arms shaking. For a split second she wondered why. It wasn’t like she was worried. She knew these games inside and out plus she was Ladybug. There was no one better suited to go out there and deal with an akuma than her. Once she looked down, she realized her arms were only shaking because of how badly Alya was trembling.

 

“I’m not lettin’ you go out there! I…I know I run into awful situations and akuma fights and…but…I…”

 

Marinette enveloped Alya in a tight hug. “Someone has to right? And look, I know these games really well so if these constructs act anything like the animatronics in the actual games, then I know how to avoid them. But we can’t all just sit here and do nothing.”

 

“Beside,” Adrien stepped to Marinette’s side, causing her to flinch slightly, “I’ll go with her. Going alone isn’t good.”

 

“Oh!” Marinette caught herself from speaking too loudly, “Y-you don’t n-need t-to go! I mean! It’s s-safer stay t-to here! No! I m-mean…!” 

 

Adrien chuckled. He’s long since learned to decipher Marinette’s babbling. “Well if it’s safer to stay here,” he countered, “we should all stay put. But we can’t and if you’re going out, I’m going with you.”

 

Not trusting her voice, Marinette just nodded. She didn’t have the heart to argue that he shouldn’t. What was she even going to say? _Hey, you can’t go out there because you’re not equipped to handle an akuma and I am because I’m Ladybug!_ That would go over _sooooo_ well.

 

She was going to use the opportunity to sneak out and transform, but if Adrien insisted on coming with her, then she needed to come up with a plan B quickly.

 

“Ugh, fine!” Alya groaned, “If both you goddamn morons insist on going out there, I’m going too! No way in hell I’mma just sit here and do nothing! Besides, I can help find some way to get in contact with Ladybug! The Ladyblog’s not just a place to fangirl about my favorite heroes! We can use it to contact them!”

 

“And if my girl’s goin’,” Nino stepped to her side, “I’m goin’ too.”

 

“But…!” Adrien began to protest because for goodness sake, he really wanted to use the opportunity to sneak away and transform. He was just about to volunteer to go out when Marinette interrupted and volunteered first much to his shock. It would be hard enough to do so while looking after Marinette but for some reason she insisted on going out there. Now he has to look after Alya and Nino too?! 

 

Nino held up a hand, effectively cutting off any further disagreements. “‘But’ nothing, dude. We’d all be much better off lookin’ out for each other. I’m not stayin’ here if literally all my closest friends are gonna put themselves in danger. We can help keep each other safe, got it?”

 

“Look,” Marinette took a breath to ready herself, “I’ll be fine on my own. You guys would be much safer if you stayed here…”

 

“Like I said before,” Adrien interrupted, “so would you.”

 

“But-!”

 

“None of us should be going out there!” Alya hissed, pointed a finger in her best friend’s direction, “You’re a klutz! You,” she pointed at Adrien, “are a sheltered model! Neither of you are equipped for this! Neither am I and neither is Nino, but we’re going with you and we’re gonna look out for each other.”

 

“Fine,” Marinette conceded, sighing in exasperation. The word came out as a growl. “Just be careful.”

 

She snatched up her purse, slinging the strap over her shoulder and holding it tightly against her side. She glances out the small window before cracking the door open and taking a look down the hall and into the courtyard. At least the area used to be the courtyard. Broken, decrepit arcade machines lined the walls. The pale lights they emitted gave the hallway a haunting glow. The empty space that was the courtyard itself was filled with tables decorated with party hats and paper plates. At the front where the door should’ve been located was a stage with the curtains drawn and microphone stands at the ready. Aside from those, it was completely empty though Marinette had a solid idea of what should have been there. Luckily it seemed the hall was empty.

 

“Okay, looks like the coast is clear,” she said, “If we’re going, we’d better go now.”

 

“Please be careful!” Rose pleaded.

 

Adrien gave the petite girl a reassuring nod before following after Marinette. Alya and Nino followed close behind, closing the door quietly as they exited.

 

The quartet silently made their way down the stairs with Marinette leading the charge, muttering and cursing under her breath. She ducked behind a pillar, glancing around the room before signaling to the rest of the group to follow her. 

 

“Hey,” Adrien rest a hand on her shoulder, “I’m sure everything will be fine. Ladybug’ll probably find a way in soon and she’ll fix it all!”

 

The sound of gears and heavy footsteps stopped them all in their tracks. They turned to find two faint pinpricks of light dancing against the wall. With each step, the light grew brighter signaling the creature’s approach.

 

“Hide!” Adrien hissed. 

 

They made their way to the nearest table and shuffled quickly yet quietly under the table cloth. It didn’t quite reach the floor, but between it and the chairs, they were obscured from the sight of any murderous robots or akuma. Alya and Nino huddled behind their respective best friends, both of whom looked prepared to fight if need be.

 

From their vantage point, they could make out the shadow of the slowly approaching robot. Its white and pink feet stopped beside their hiding spot and they heard it emit a cheerful robotic chuckle.

 

“I know you’re over there somewhere!”

 

Alya stiffened, gripping Marinette’s shoulder’s tightly. She was sure that she was probably causing her friend some pain, but she could hardly bring herself to care. It would’ve been smarter to just wait in the room with everyone else. She was already regretting her decision to put herself on the front lines. One look at Nino told her he was thinking the same thing. 

 

“I _know_ you’re over there somewhere…”

 

The animatronic continued its patrol of the courtyard turned party room. Its voice fading as it moved further away from their hiding space and closer to the stage. Marinette and Adrien’s eyes trailed its shadow’s movement. They shuffled around, a bit, careful to not move any of the chairs. They just wanted to keep themselves between the animatronic construct and their friends at all times.

 

Somehow it slipped both their minds that they “should be” protecting each other as well.

 

“Okay…that was Funtime Freddy!” Nino whined, his voice quivering a bit, “How are we gonna get past him?!”

 

“Not sure,” Adrien whispered in response, “I thought you watched Max’s gameplay. How does it work in the game?”

 

“A playable response,” Marinette answered, not removing her eyes from Funtime Freddy’s direction, “You’re asked to go to a breaker room and restart some of the systems and he’s there in the shadows just waiting for you. As a defense, you’re given a recording of his Bonnie hand puppet’s voice that plays a response that draws him away from you. Or convinces him that no one’s there…” She grows quiet as the footsteps approach the table once more. It turns just before reaching their table and fade as it heads towards the back of the room.

 

“So we need a voice recording of that thing’s hand puppet…? Great. Where’re we supposed to find that?”

 

Once again, Funtime Freddy’s chuckle startled them. Alya and Nino cowered closer to their friends. Marinette’s posture stiffened. One hand held over the latch to her purse for…some reason. Absentmindedly, she leaned forward into Adrien’s outstretched arm. She flinched at the touch, turning to look at him. Aside from the one arm he held in front of her, everything about his posture distinctly read as feline from the way he was crouched down on his hands and feet to his laser like focus on the shadow’s movement. She could almost envision him with black, leathery cat ears flattened against his hair and a cat-like tail flicking in agitation.

 

She shook her head to clear her mind of the thought.

 

“I really, really wish Ladybug were here…” Alya whimpered.

 

Marinette clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. 

 

“She would be if she didn’t have to look after people…” she muttered.

 

“What was that?” Adrien glared at her.

 

“Ah…n-nothing,” she mumbled.

 

“No, no, nonono…You said that Ladybug would be here if she didn’t have people to look after.” His eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

 

“W-well,” Marinette stalled, searching for a way to deflect her impending interrogation, “w-what about Chat? He should be here by now too!”

 

“Ladybug’s the only one who can cleanse akuma,” Adrien retorted without missing a beat, “Chat might be a helpful distraction, but we definitely need Ladybug more.”

 

Marinette opened her mouth, ready to respond but stopped short as the footsteps made their way back towards the direction of their hiding spot. Once again, the creature let loose a sinister chuckle that made their blood run cold.

 

“I s-see you over there in the dark! Come-come on out!”

 

Funtime Freddy faced away from their table, towards a pillar adjacent to them. There was a pained, frightened squeak that was barely audible even in the room’s pregnant silence. The only one who seemed to pick up on it was Adrien who crouched lower to the ground, looking between the space between the tablecloth and the floor. 

 

There wasn’t much he could make out aside from Funtime Freddy’s legs and feet but in the distance he saw a small movement. A shadow moving to obscure itself behind the pillar. The animatronic took note of it as well as it began moving in the shadow’s direction.

 

“Hey, Bon-Bon! I thi-think that’s the birthday boy over the-there! We should go give him a surprise!”

 

“Shit,” Adrien hissed through gritted teeth. A soft, low growl slipped past his lips.

 

They weren’t alone in there. They weren’t alone and somehow no one else noticed there was someone else in that room. Neither Marinette nor Alya nor Nino could hear those faint whimpers from the other side of the room. He supposed it was a side effect from being Chat. Though his hearing wasn’t as good as it was when he was in suit, he did notice that it drastically improved. The same could be said for his eyesight which is probably why he was the only one who noticed the small shadow near the far pillar.

 

Speaking of being in suit, it would be great if he could transform. He couldn’t very well ditch Marinette, Alya, and Nino though, but whoever it was behind that pillar desperately needed help. It was only a matter of time before Funtime Freddy caught up to them. His nails restlessly tapped against the tiled floor as he itched to run out from underneath the table and catch the animatronic bear’s attention. 

 

That would be a solid way to assure his death and he did not want to die at this point in life yet.

 

Lucky for him, he spotted a small silvery remote lying nearby. If he was careful enough he could reach it. Not that he knew what it was for, but they needed something…some kind of miracle…this had to be close enough.

 

“Bro, what the hell’re you doing?!” Nino snarled.

 

Adrien ignored his friend’s question, opting to reach out for the small remote. His fingertips hovered just over the object, close enough to touch it but not quite enough to pick it up. He needed to stretch a little further…just a few inches further and he should be able to grab it…

 

“Yes!” Adrien whisper-exclaimed, dragging the remote under the table. Upon closer inspection, there were a few buttons he could press and despite not knowing what the remote did, he decided to take a chance. Steeling himself for whatever happened next, he shut his eyes and pressed one of the buttons.

 

“You must be hearing things silly!” a high pitched voice giggled. Adrien didn’t know who the voice was or what it belonged to, but it did seem to make Funtime Freddy halt his pursuit. He pressed another button.

 

“Calm down and go back to sleep! No one is here!”

 

Funtime Freddy swiveled his head from side to side, settling his eyes on the Bonnie hand puppet on his left arm.

 

“Bon-Bon, say hi to our friends!”

 

The thing almost sounded like it was pleading with the bunny hand puppet. Adrien frantically pressed another button on the remote.

 

“Shhh, go back to your stage! Everything is okay.”

 

The animatronic bear took a step back from the pillar. The response sounds were working! Adrien pressed a few more of the buttons hoping it would draw Freddy away from whoever was hiding.

 

“You must be hearing things silly! Calm down and go back to sleep! No one is here! Everything is okay. Let’s go back to sleep…”

 

Convinced that “Bon-Bon” must be speaking the truth, Funtime Freddy abandoned its pursuit of the lone human child. It turned on its heel and made a slow, lumbering trek back toward the stage. The footsteps faded away as it disappeared behind the stage.

 

The group of them waited in silence under the table for an extra minute or two before daring to venture out. As silently as they could, they crawled out from underneath the table. Their steps alerted the hidden student to the fact that they weren’t alone in that room. They sucked in a sharp, shuddering breath.

 

“No!” Adrien whispered, “We’re not here to hurt you!”

 

“Who’re you talking to?” Marinette cocked her head to the side.

 

As if to answer her, a timid boy peered carefully around the pillar, only relaxing once he saw that the people there were actually other students.

 

“H-hi,” the boy waved. His body still trembled due to fear and left over adrenaline.

 

“Oh my god,” Marinette covered her mouth in shock, “I-I didn’t even know you were here! What’re you doing out here?”

 

“I-I thought I could get out…I tried g-getting t-to the door but…but…”

 

“Was anyone else in the classroom when you left?” Adrien asked. The boy nodded and pointed towards the room where the rest of his friends were hiding. “You should go back in there. It’ll be safer. We’ll try to contact Ladybug and Chat Noir. They can fix this situation.”

 

The boy didn’t need to be told twice. He near bolted back to the room, quietly closing the door behind him. 

 

Adrien let out a sigh of relief. That entire situation could’ve gone horribly wrong. That remote could’ve signaled the animatronic to him and his friends. It could’ve set off an alarm. It could’ve literally done anything else, but it was the exact thing he needed in that instant. Needless to say, it was nothing short of a miracle.

 

“Okay,” Alya spoke, “Now that we’ve survived that, how do you propose we get in contact with our resident superheroes? I was going to post something to the Ladyblog, but I think the barrier’s cutting off signals. I can’t get any reception.”

 

“Neither can I.” Nino fiddled with his phone for a few moments before giving up and shoving the thing back in his pocket. “Seriously, what the fuck are we supposed to do? We can’t handle this! And if we can’t contact them…well we’re shit outta luck aren’t we?!”

 

“No.” The word was spoken so softly it was barely audible. Marinette stared at the tiled floor. A multitude of emotions flashed behind her eyes. Frustration, confusion, distress, nervousness…all of them played within her before a sort of calm settled over her. She took a deep breath before turning to face everyone.

 

“No,” she spoke a little louder, “we aren’t.”

 

“Girl, what’re you saying?!” Alya growled, “Didn’t you hear anything we said? We can’t…!”

 

“And I’m saying you don’t need to. You never needed to…” she paused, “You never needed to contact Ladybug. Ladybug already knew.”

 

“How would she…?” Adrien started. Marinette turned to face him, eyes boiling over with immense determination, resolve, and focus. There was a hint of something else there as well. An…apology?

 

He shoved that thought to the back of his mind as there was something about her bluebell eyes that was familiar to him. Not that he hadn’t seen Marinette look determined before. She was quite determined when she focused heavily on her designs, but this was different. When he looked at her, he knew she understood the weight of the task at hand. The eyes that stared back at him bore the weight of many souls…lives that relied on her to protect them. They understood the value and price of human life and the consequences should they fail at their task.

 

They were eyes that held the fate of an entire city within them…

 

Eyes that he’d only seen surrounded by a mask…

 

A shuddering gasp escaped his lips as the realization overtook him.

 

“My…Lady?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow this turned into a reveal scenario and I didn't mean for that to happen but I'mma roll with it...


End file.
